HUBLI: Chief minister N. Dharam Singh on Monday said the Hindustani vocal exponent Gangubai Hangal had returned the felicitation offered by him at the instigation of some vested interests. He was speaking to reporters at the Hubli airport after attending a host of public functions in the neighbouring Uttara Kannada district. The chief minister's latest comment assumes significance as he himself had earlier said his exit from the felicitation function was because he had to catch the flight before sunset. Contrary to his earlier views, the chief minister said: "What have I done, that so much is being said about it? I honoured her (Gangubai Hangal) with full respect and delivered a speech in the presence of my cabinet colleagues. What else was I supposed to do?" "It appears there are some people who might have instigated Gangubai to return the poura sanman (civic honour). I think there seems to be some mischief somewhere," he added. Asked what he had to say to the suggestion of his deputy Siddaramaiah to honour Gangubai again in a special way, Dharam Singh said: "I will discuss it with my colleagues and let you know." Arkavathy row: On the issue of Congress legislators throwing open challenge to former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to provide evidence to the Arkavathy land row, Dharam Singh said: "I have no idea about that development as I was away from Bangalore."

BANGALORE: At a sparkling evening lit up with crackers, Shah Rukh Khan told the teeming thousands, "Naan nin jathe madbeku (let's do it together)." When the crowd roared, he added with a twinkle: "OK, OK. I know this is a family programme." The much-awaited 'Temptations 2005' began with this cracker of sorts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. And to the crowd's relief, there was no rain to water down their spirits. Item numbers, box-office blockbusters and songs that families sing by rote, were on offering. To step up the tempo, Bollywood stars Zayed Khan and Lara Dutta gyrated to chart-topping numbers by Raghav — the balle balle thumping Aaja nachale. While Zayed chorused a predictable — I luv you Bangalore — Lara Dutta said, "This is the first time my parents are sitting in the audience; this is my hometown." Show-choreographer Ganesh Hegde crooned the breezy Bheege hont tere and then exhorted the audience to join in. Airlifted from somewhere, the star of the night — SRK — emerged and boomed — "You've come back for the show, thank you. This is my mother's city, my childhood city. I was too young to go to pubs then, I could check it out now." A pair of blue jeans, white vest, skin glistening in a chaiyya chaiyya train-load of sweat, the superstar did numbers from films like Main hoon na, Kal ho na ho, Dil se. Their pet peeve was that they couldn't see him in person. Maybe you'd run into him at a pub on Monday! Rani from a box? Not quite, even though city-based magician Ramesh tried to do the same. Promising a "ravishing Rani Mukherjee" from the magician's box, he got out a scrawny middle-aged man! The real Rani came later, to the accompaniment of Kuch kuch hota hain, and other chart-busters. Gateway to the temptation: ''We've paid Rs 1 lakh, please let us in," pleaded accounts executive Preeti Khanna who had got her elderly parents for the show. "No, there is a stampede, we can't let you in," maintained organisers Sanghamitra Foundation and Ginger Networks. "We have to pay a hefty sum, wait for hours and then get treated like dogs," ranted marketing executive Rajesh Nair. A huge melee at every entrance, more so at the hefty-tagged Rs 10,000, chaos reigned supreme as the wannabe audience tried wielding power — "I'm related to the main organiser, please let me in"; "I'm going to call the minister if you don't let me in." View from the gallery: Is that shining white speck SRK, wondered many at the gallery seats. Maybe it is him, look everybody is screaming... they reconciled, before adding to the crescendo of — Shaaah Ruuukkkkh, we love you.

BANGALORE: A meeting convened by the state government with Union home minister Shivaraj Patil here on Sunday to discuss the Naxal problem in Karnataka, erupted into a wordy duel with BJP leaders creating a furore over a four-page letter. The letter, which was a representation given by Citizen's Initiative for Peace (CIP) to Patil, was criticised by the BJP leaders stating that it contained derogatory references to their party. Though CM Dharam Singh and the leaders of other parties tried to calm down BJP leaders B S Yediyurappa and D H Shankarmurthy stating the letter was not an official note, the leaders were in no mood to listen. A swear word uttered by Shankarmurthy was taken exception to by MLAs G.V. Sriramareddy and Vatal Nagaraj, triggering off a duel. Things reached such a pass that Yediyurappa pushed aside his chair in protest and walked towards Patil in an agitated manner. When Patil's officer on special duty Sudhir Khanapure tried to stop him, Yediyurappa almost attacked him. Patil, who till then remained a mute spectator, intervened and said: "Let us forget it here, otherwise the discussion will suffer." By the time the discussion resumed, a total of 26 minutes of the two-hour meet had been lost. Earlier, Singh urged the Centre to review and amend the forest conservation laws in order to empower the state government to take up development works in the Naxal-infested areas inside the forests. Responding to the state's request, Patil threw the ball back in Singh's court. "If you think any changes have to be made to the Forest Act, please draft the amendments which you want to be incorporated and send it to the environment and forests ministry." Stating that there were a lot of misconceptions about forest laws, Patil said: "If you think there are certain provisions in the Forest Act that obstructs development and is a cause for grievance for the people residing in the forest area, we will consider your suggestions." But Patil was of the view that the Naxal problem in Karnataka was not alarming. While lauding the government for its development programmes, he suggested it not to present the Naxalite problem in such a fashion that it created fear psychosis.